I already shared this elsewhere, but Kobold Press' GMG table of contents actually got me a little excited- I'm overall positive on TotV, but I primarily use A5E. KP put a preview up on DTRPG, I'll share the preview ToC here since that's what initially got me interested in the book.
I think I'm mostly sharing my thoughts for those that might consider picking this up... I am biased though! I've beengrouchy critical of a lot of the WotC design direction over the last several years and there's a lot of press about the soon to be released DMG; some parts I'm interested in seeing but I don't expect to be wowed overall.. this might color KP's GMG more positively since it's not WotC and has some contributors that I know I like.
I picked up the PDF and am skimming it- here are some comments on sections that stand out to me as I skim:
How to GM
Pacing: So friggin' important, and I think that they give some good advice here. It's half a page.
Sometimes things fall apart: I think it's nice for GMs, old and new, to hear that sometimes no matter how hard you try games or groups fall through/fizzle out.
Adventures & Campaigns
Flavors of Fantasy: They cover different types of fantasy and provide examples of each, about a paragraph for each type. Dark Fantasy, High, Science Fantasy, Weird, etc. I guess that's helpful, to have defined names and descriptions. I'd say that it'd be nice if there were suggestions for running each of these styles- for example Sword and Sorcery has an entry, but running modern DnD with Sword and Sorcery is, IMO, tough to do without a lot of house rules... you're probably better off with a different game like DCC. Maybe they'll touch on how to run each better in the optional rules section, or elsewhere.
Tiers of Play: Standard 4 tiers and descriptions of them. I kind of wish they'd broken it up into 5 tiers, but this is all opinionated feedback
Gods and Religions: They cover a lot here, over ~5 pages. I'll need to read this whole section thoroughly, I think it has useful info.
Advanced Combat
OK here we go, I'm hoping for some good stuff here.
Theater of the Mind, adjudicating Areas of Effect: How many foes does a Fireball hit in Theater of the Mind combat? What about Wall of Fire? Well, they have suggested numbers here for each common AoE size! Nice.
Encounter Templates: A bunch of examples for types of fights- a boss with bodyguards, two/three bosses, a horde, rivals, wolfpack, all with several examples of different levels with named monsters. Cool. More importantly (to me) this section also has a couple Battlefield Zone examples, like "volcanic summit" including a lava lake with platforms, flat rock shelves, and a field of towering boulders. Honestly I'd love a bunch more of those examples! They spur my imagination.
Special Combat Scenarios: rules for Aerial Combat, large-scale combats, multi-phase combats, and more! Multi-phase combat advice sounds useful, especially since I'm going to be finishing up Red Hand of Doom soon. They give some examples of a single opponent transforming into different things as their HP is reduced to zero... we've seen this elsewhere, it's not new, but it's nice to see here and I think it'd tick my players off (in a good way). Underwater combat rules are actually a little harsher on the players, which I like! Creatures that're completely submerged have total cover from attacks outside the water... is that standard 5e? That seems like too much but I'm not sure...
Minions and Hordes: Minion rules look similar to MCDM's (and 13th Age's iirc, been a while).
Adjudicating Attacks and effects for hordes: As earlier, but with horde numbers.
Variant Rules: These include a number of special rules
Bloodied creatures. I think I like these rules, though I'm not sure if they're suggesting that they be used for PCs AND monsters, or just the latter.. I assume just monsters. I wonder if there was a section earlier on explaining to players that rules aren't universal between PCs and NPCs :'D . "What do you mean the Hag can go ethereal but it's not a spell so I can't counter it?! I can't do that!"
Called Shots: Always a contentious subject. "I want to go for the dragon's vital organs/weak spot so we can kill it quicker!" "Why can't I shoot the cyclops in the eye so it's blind?" To which I've given a couple answers over the years: "Well it's assumed that your characters are always trying to strike vital spots, HP is an abstract of that. Your final strike against the dragon IS in its weak spot!" "Are you OK with the monsters being able to blind your characters in the same fashion?" ANYWAY...
This rule says it's harder to hit a location, but you deal a bit more damage if you hit- if you crit, it does even more damage, and goes on to say that you can combine it with the optional Injuries rule (seen later). I think I like the idea? It seems to sort of step on the great weapon master/sharpshooter "penalty to hit in exchange for more damage" options which require a feat to get...
Expanded Doom: It says in the Monster Vault (maybe I should get that too) Doom is a GM resource that the GM gets to make encounters more ... doomful. This adds more ways to acquire and spend Doom. It reminds me of the FFG Star Wars ttrpg Force/Dark Side points mechanic... it seems like it'd be most valuable when you can visually show the players these "doom points" you've accrued to spend, at least I think that's the case because it's valuable in ramping up the tension. I guess it also justifies a bunch of these otherwise rules-breaking features (a creature can auto-save for instance, normally you'd only expect that of legendaries)... though not narratively. Narratively I guess it could be handwaved, since the mechanics of combat =/= literal narrative result.
To Be Continued
OK I wanted to push through to the end of the section, but there's a lot more to go and I need to prep for a game tonight! I'll continue this another time, please share your thoughts especially if you picked up your own copy or checked out the free preview on DTRPG.
Cont'd Advanced Combat
Cont'd Advanced Exploration & Social
Cont'd Adventuring Options
I think I'm mostly sharing my thoughts for those that might consider picking this up... I am biased though! I've been
I picked up the PDF and am skimming it- here are some comments on sections that stand out to me as I skim:
How to GM
Pacing: So friggin' important, and I think that they give some good advice here. It's half a page.
Sometimes things fall apart: I think it's nice for GMs, old and new, to hear that sometimes no matter how hard you try games or groups fall through/fizzle out.
Adventures & Campaigns
Flavors of Fantasy: They cover different types of fantasy and provide examples of each, about a paragraph for each type. Dark Fantasy, High, Science Fantasy, Weird, etc. I guess that's helpful, to have defined names and descriptions. I'd say that it'd be nice if there were suggestions for running each of these styles- for example Sword and Sorcery has an entry, but running modern DnD with Sword and Sorcery is, IMO, tough to do without a lot of house rules... you're probably better off with a different game like DCC. Maybe they'll touch on how to run each better in the optional rules section, or elsewhere.
Tiers of Play: Standard 4 tiers and descriptions of them. I kind of wish they'd broken it up into 5 tiers, but this is all opinionated feedback
Gods and Religions: They cover a lot here, over ~5 pages. I'll need to read this whole section thoroughly, I think it has useful info.
Advanced Combat
OK here we go, I'm hoping for some good stuff here.
Theater of the Mind, adjudicating Areas of Effect: How many foes does a Fireball hit in Theater of the Mind combat? What about Wall of Fire? Well, they have suggested numbers here for each common AoE size! Nice.
Encounter Templates: A bunch of examples for types of fights- a boss with bodyguards, two/three bosses, a horde, rivals, wolfpack, all with several examples of different levels with named monsters. Cool. More importantly (to me) this section also has a couple Battlefield Zone examples, like "volcanic summit" including a lava lake with platforms, flat rock shelves, and a field of towering boulders. Honestly I'd love a bunch more of those examples! They spur my imagination.
Special Combat Scenarios: rules for Aerial Combat, large-scale combats, multi-phase combats, and more! Multi-phase combat advice sounds useful, especially since I'm going to be finishing up Red Hand of Doom soon. They give some examples of a single opponent transforming into different things as their HP is reduced to zero... we've seen this elsewhere, it's not new, but it's nice to see here and I think it'd tick my players off (in a good way). Underwater combat rules are actually a little harsher on the players, which I like! Creatures that're completely submerged have total cover from attacks outside the water... is that standard 5e? That seems like too much but I'm not sure...
Minions and Hordes: Minion rules look similar to MCDM's (and 13th Age's iirc, been a while).
Adjudicating Attacks and effects for hordes: As earlier, but with horde numbers.
Variant Rules: These include a number of special rules
Bloodied creatures. I think I like these rules, though I'm not sure if they're suggesting that they be used for PCs AND monsters, or just the latter.. I assume just monsters. I wonder if there was a section earlier on explaining to players that rules aren't universal between PCs and NPCs :'D . "What do you mean the Hag can go ethereal but it's not a spell so I can't counter it?! I can't do that!"
Called Shots: Always a contentious subject. "I want to go for the dragon's vital organs/weak spot so we can kill it quicker!" "Why can't I shoot the cyclops in the eye so it's blind?" To which I've given a couple answers over the years: "Well it's assumed that your characters are always trying to strike vital spots, HP is an abstract of that. Your final strike against the dragon IS in its weak spot!" "Are you OK with the monsters being able to blind your characters in the same fashion?" ANYWAY...
This rule says it's harder to hit a location, but you deal a bit more damage if you hit- if you crit, it does even more damage, and goes on to say that you can combine it with the optional Injuries rule (seen later). I think I like the idea? It seems to sort of step on the great weapon master/sharpshooter "penalty to hit in exchange for more damage" options which require a feat to get...
Expanded Doom: It says in the Monster Vault (maybe I should get that too) Doom is a GM resource that the GM gets to make encounters more ... doomful. This adds more ways to acquire and spend Doom. It reminds me of the FFG Star Wars ttrpg Force/Dark Side points mechanic... it seems like it'd be most valuable when you can visually show the players these "doom points" you've accrued to spend, at least I think that's the case because it's valuable in ramping up the tension. I guess it also justifies a bunch of these otherwise rules-breaking features (a creature can auto-save for instance, normally you'd only expect that of legendaries)... though not narratively. Narratively I guess it could be handwaved, since the mechanics of combat =/= literal narrative result.
To Be Continued
OK I wanted to push through to the end of the section, but there's a lot more to go and I need to prep for a game tonight! I'll continue this another time, please share your thoughts especially if you picked up your own copy or checked out the free preview on DTRPG.
Cont'd Advanced Combat
Cont'd Advanced Exploration & Social
Cont'd Adventuring Options
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